What’s the Rush?

14092007

This was something I’d wanted to speak to back when we did the re-assessment of where we were at. We had originally set the goal of completing the “300” test after 8 weeks. This was only because that was the number that was being thrown around alot, until Mark Twight cleared things up with his article “300”, wherein he clarifies that it was “….a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of our four-month project 17 people had done the workout (Logan and I were two of them). This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew…..”. Four months….so it was going to take us a little more time:) And within our first 3 weeks we quickly realized that (whether those guys could do it in 8 weeks or not) we were going to need alot more time. Which was why we did a “300 Jr.” instead. That was the test that would allow us to gage where we were at.

So we set the goal to complete “300” after a second cycle that would be 10 weeks in duration. Well, with 3 weeks to go in that one, we knew we weren’t ready, we weren’t in the kind of shape someone would need to be to undertake something like that. Without allowing our ego’s or pride to get in the way, we acknowledged where we were and that it was going to be awhile yet before we were in that kind of conditioning.

And what’s the rush? We aren’t training for a movie. We aren’t training for a competition. We don’t have to make the changes and train at this level or we’re going to die. For our purposes, we don’t HAVE to have that kind of conditioning by THIS date! We are on a path to be as close to that as we can (why, ’cause who doesn’t want to be in that kind of shape;), but within the realm of the lives we live. You have those that DO need to do it, as it is important to their work or the career paths they’ve chosen (Gym Jones and the gang, our military and law-enforcement, firefighters, olympians, etc.) But lets be honest with ourselves…..most of us are not Olympians:)

I hear it all the time, in the media and the people around me, “I’m going to lose 40 lbs in the next month” or “I’m going to look like that guy, or that girl, in the next 8 weeks”. And there is this sense of urgency around it all. You can just feel the subtext “I HAVE to reach this goal by then”, “I have to hurry, O God, I’m not going to make it….okay 3 weeks left…..if I go on this huge diet, I can make it”. And sure, maybe they make it….maybe. But once they reach it, they stop outright. Because I also hear all the time of people getting so discouraged when they don’t meet that goal. Or of how exhausted they were by the end because they couldn’t maintain living like that. It is then months, until they feel so crappy that they’re body is screaming for it, before they try again. But now it’s guilt for not having done anything for the last few months and in comes that sense of urgency again. Why? What’s the rush?! Setting goals are a must. You have to have a direction you intend to go to make forward progress, but if the purpose BEHIND the physical activity is about maintaining your health, is about feeling good, is about having fun and living a fuller more fruitful life, why does it have to be at a standard of those that do train for a living, who have been doing it for years and years, and why does it have to be now?

I just put this out there. Re-visit your purpose for training or the physical activity you partake in. Be honest with yourself. Set realistic goals based on your life now. Something you can maintain and improve upon in your day to day life. And be forgiving with yourself. Don’t use it as an excuse to do less and sell yourself short, but be forgiving. See the end in the beginning and know you will get there.

GYM JANE

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